Reply To: Helping the Teachers Grow

[Kristopher Taft]

I too am a teacher mentor and coach and find the most requests for help in math.

We are the first generation to be teaching math differently than the way that we learned it. Teachers, when pushed for time and resources, will always resort to doing it the way that they were taught – for the majority – that is the “algorithm way”. Change is never easy!

When I’ve had success getting teachers to be more open to a new way of teaching math, it is almost always occurred after “adopting” a classroom or teacher that was willing to be a risker. I would help that teacher plan and then I would model # talks, activities, or lessons and we’d debrief afterwards. Time and time again, the single most powerful factor in getting teachers to see the light, was when a student(s) who previously struggled started to find success. How difficult is it for a teacher to shut you down when their struggling students started to be more engaged,  have more confidence, or was able to even put into words what had changed for them? 

That’s my 2 cents.